National Principal’s Conference: Meet Osmo at NPC 17

Osmo is a one of a kind iPad educational tool that helps kids learn multitudes of skills through fun, interactive games with a physical component.

When they debuted three years ago with three amazing games they caught the hearts of kids, parents and teachers everywhere. Their first introductory kit included a letter game, a puzzle game and Masterpiece, an incredible drawing app that’s even fun for high school students.

At The National Principal’s conference they’re showing off their latest games which include Coding Aubie and Coding Jam two games that incorporate the Osmo philosophy into teaching kids the basics of coding in a block style language.

Two weeks ago at ISTE 2017 0ur nine year old ed tech reporter, Tatum F, was amazed while she was playing the “monster” game. The monster told her to draw a submarine door, he then proceeded to pick the door up off her paper and put it onto the iPad screen, and walk through it. Pretty amazing interactive technology.

That’s the thought echoed by teachers from across the globe, that we ran into at ISTE 2017. Maria Jackson, a fourth grade math teacher from Florida said “my son loves Osmo and my students do as well, the pizza game even teaches kids light business skills”.

Osmo can be purchased directly through playosmo.com and on Amazon. Teachers, schools and districts can purchase Osmo through their education department.

Nearly 25,000 schools are using Osmo to change the way kids collaborate, think critically and communicate.

“Some of my students will come in early or stay after school just to get a chance to play on Osmo a little longer” Rebecca Black, a 3rd grade teacher from Washington DC told us at ISTE 2017.

At the National Principal’s Conference we ran into quite a few teachers who were already familiar with Osmo and using Osmo in the class. Some principals were anxious to get there hands on it. One principal says after getting the purchase approved he’s been waiting for months for his school board to put the wheels in motion so his students could also use it.

Osmo’s fourth employee, Erica Valladao told us that the company started on Kickstarter and after successfully reaching their goal, crowdfunded the next iteration via their own website. Their company continues to grow as more and more schools have taken to Osmo.